I don't know if 20 days without food is healthy but, historically at this time of year, we would pretty much be fasting. We would have carb loaded at the end of summer and most of our energy would come from that stored fat since food would be scarce during the winter (little bit of greens and whatever meat we could get our hands on). Modern ways of eating/gorging are but a speck on the evolutionary timeline.

There is just too many things wrong this this paragraph.

Dude humans lived in a temperate Africa for millions of years before venturing out around 40,000 years ago. They didn't have "winters". They didn't carbo load at the end of summer and carbo loading has nothing to do with fat stores.

OP: Regrettably you must have lost a considerable amount of lean body mass as body needs sugar and/or protein for functioning and if it can not get them through food it will obtain them from muscles.

This is my first post and I would like to say mad props to the OP. I did a water fast from July 5th to September 7th this year. I lost 50 lbs, my mental clarity increased dramatically and my skin as my wife said, was glowing. My energy levels were fine and only after major cardio routines did I feel really lethargic. Overall it was a grand experience. I did this firstly as an experiment, second as a mind-body adjustment routine and thirdly to lose a bit of weight. I ended up losing muscle mass but as another poster mentioned, regaining lean muscle after the fast was quite easy.

At the very beginning, this was difficult. I lusted after food and my hunger pangs were all over the place. By day 5 I felt like I was on fire, completely electric, my reflexes seemed to be super charged (I practice a couple of martial arts) and my instructors were really impressed by my mental calmness and also my increased dexterity. By day 14 I had really found my groove and my body seemed to be in an equilibrium state. By day 21 I was coasting on autopilot and I was able to go straight through until my early September goal. This is an exercise I would like to do twice a year. I won't go 60 days again but I will do a double 14 day session twice a year.

In fact, I am starting one tomorrow and joined this site after looking for new cologne suggestions along with facial soaps but when I came across this thread I felt compelled to respond stating it is possible, it isn't unhealthy for 14 days, it is mildly unhealthy for 60 days but I'm a cardiology researcher and I had my colleagues watching me closely if I began to delude myself in how healthy or unhealthy this experiment was.

Other less intense versions are liquid diets with supplemental sugar extracts like maple syrup to help ease the glucose burden. I should have done that along with some protein adjustments so I didn't lose my muscle, but over 14 days this won't be a concern.

man whoever the OP is, they're taking everyone for a ride. there are a group of people in india that practice this, but they are highly religious, highly dedicated and make this their lives. they look like concentration camp prisoners. i recommend everyone just unsubscribe from this bullshit and spend time reading a thread about real health and fitness.

How can you manage to go on a water fast for two months? Don't you have any sort of social life? Do you participate in any sort of physical activities, or did you just lay around all day?

I have a social life sure, but likely not as active as most around here as I'm married with kids and I'm a professional. My day job has me in a lab or at a computer a lot so the daytime wasn't horrid. The hardest part was being around food. Not the sights, but the smells.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamKris

I'm kinda curious and have the following questions.

1. What type of physical activity did you do while you were fasting?
2. Did it affect your cognition in any way?
3. What was your weight before and after the fast?

I play squash and practice Jiu-Jitsu and Kung-fu. On the fast, I had to scale back on the squash as intense cardio would wipe me out. To compensate, I would go jogging at night 3x/week for about 5 km. My Sifu was having a riot over my fast and during some private sessions would work me really hard while laughing. Remarkably, if I had an early morning session, I would be wiped out but an evening session I would be fine and could have handled a run and did so a couple of times, but ordinarily the objective was only one type of exercise a day.

The one major scaling back I did was with my anaerobic exercise which I wouldn't do a second time. I would maintain the type of cardio I did (and actually won't be changing up for these two weeks) but will keep a 3x/week low rep high weight anaerobic workout. I lost too much of my muscle mass after the second month and although I gained it back quickly enough I had to gain it back.

Before the fast I had creeped up around 195 and started to look like Russel Crowe in Robin Hood. Muscular with a layer of bulk I wanted to get rid of. By the end I had oscillated between 143 and 147 depending on the amount of water I had taken in the night before. I drank only distilled water from a local reverse osmosis distillery. It's what my family drink and what I have in my lab, so it is what I drank. I also took vitamin supplements, a multivitamin fortified with Iron and extra Vit B, C and D supplements. Otherwise it was just water with the odd bit of lime or lemon juice on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for some flavouring.

I did this as an experiment rather than a weight loss regimen. There was a competing physician who was doing something completely different (and he was double my weight to start). He only ate Twinkies and Nachos. It worked out that he lost 20 lbs over his time frame and it was of course completely based on calorie control. He reduced his caloric intake but ate what he wanted. Of course he had high sodium, fat and cholesterol and little vits and protein but it was again, only for a short time and meant as an experiment with trained professionals watching him. Both of us will be publishing in medical journals, in fact I think he may have already submitted.

As for mental acuity, I had a clarity of mind I hadn't felt since I was a Letterman back in my undergrad days. Most days my focus matched my clarity but there were some days where although my mind was very clear, I had trouble focusing on my work. Not that my mind was blank, but I couldn't sit still and really focus my attention on say an experiment I was running that day, or something I was reading etc. These days would come and go but they certainly were a bother. This happened only after the first 30 days of fasting for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazingazn

man whoever the OP is, they're taking everyone for a ride.

there are a group of people in india that practice this, but they are highly religious, highly dedicated and make this their lives.
they look like concentration camp prisoners.

i recommend everyone just unsubscribe from this bullshit and spend time reading a thread about real health and fitness.

Fasting is actually practiced all over the world by the religiously inclined and otherwise. In fact, fasting has been part of human culture for 15 000 years if not more. Fasting has usually been very short term to short term (a day to a few days, sometimes 10-14 days). More extreme fasting has been for a month or two (what I tried) and then as noted above the very very extreme which isn't starvation clinically defined but comes close are those that fast for very long periods on nothing but water and some flat bread. That said this is often part of a ritual, like building up to a long test of endurance in both food reduction and running (like one group of SouthEast Asian monks). They will fast and then run continuously for obscene amonts of time (solid days and days non-stop).

For someone who is looking to lose weight and feel great, regular variable exercise combining aerobic and anaerobic training is the way to go along with a balanced diet. But don't knock those who have tried a fast and succeeded. The cleansing and healing of the GI tract alone is worth the effort of a 10 day fast.

This is my first post and I would like to say mad props to the OP. I did a water fast from July 5th to September 7th this year. I lost 50 lbs, my mental clarity increased dramatically and my skin as my wife said, was glowing. My energy levels were fine and only after major cardio routines did I feel really lethargic. Overall it was a grand experience. I did this firstly as an experiment, second as a mind-body adjustment routine and thirdly to lose a bit of weight. I ended up losing muscle mass but as another poster mentioned, regaining lean muscle after the fast was quite easy.

At the very beginning, this was difficult. I lusted after food and my hunger pangs were all over the place. By day 5 I felt like I was on fire, completely electric, my reflexes seemed to be super charged (I practice a couple of martial arts) and my instructors were really impressed by my mental calmness and also my increased dexterity. By day 14 I had really found my groove and my body seemed to be in an equilibrium state. By day 21 I was coasting on autopilot and I was able to go straight through until my early September goal. This is an exercise I would like to do twice a year. I won't go 60 days again but I will do a double 14 day session twice a year.

In fact, I am starting one tomorrow and joined this site after looking for new cologne suggestions along with facial soaps but when I came across this thread I felt compelled to respond stating it is possible, it isn't unhealthy for 14 days, it is mildly unhealthy for 60 days but I'm a cardiology researcher and I had my colleagues watching me closely if I began to delude myself in how healthy or unhealthy this experiment was.

Other less intense versions are liquid diets with supplemental sugar extracts like maple syrup to help ease the glucose burden. I should have done that along with some protein adjustments so I didn't lose my muscle, but over 14 days this won't be a concern.

Thank you.

It is nice to hear from someone with a professional background who can testify on my behalf. At least there is one person who doesn't think I'm completely out of my mind. I can relate to a lot of what you personally experienced at certain periods of your fast. By day 20, I felt great, and could have easily continued fasting no problem. I'm not sure I would ever go as long as 60 days, though. Why exactly did you go that long?

At this point, I have gained back around 5 pounds of the total 23 pounds I lost, and a good portion of that has been some muscle mass that I lost. I find my muscle came back rather quickly, and with very little effort. Now, my physique appears healthy, lean, and toned, as compared to when I finished the fast and looked semi-emaciated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazingazn

man whoever the OP is, they're taking everyone for a ride.

I was, in no way, shape, or form, trying to encourage anyone to attempt what I have done. Nor did I come here to lie. I am simply recounting my experience for those who are curious.

I'm pretty sure fasting is not going to give me oral candidiasis. The white on my tongue is more likely from the build up of sulfurous compounds created by bacteria. It's a pretty normal and common occurrence amongst people who have have fasted.

Yea guys, his emaciated frame isn't a result of putting his body through a severe stint of malnutrition, it's just his body expelling all toxins and intruders via the natural route (depriving it of nutrients for an extended period of time).

I ended up doing the 60 days mostly out of interest to test my resolve and to document what my body was personally able to deal with. Once my fat stores were pretty much eaten up, my body started to kick into high gear on my muscle and at that point I knew I was finished. I probably should have stopped around day 40 to dodge that bullet but again, I had targeted 60 days and it became so easy to keep going that I just went with it. This 14 day fast I began today is more of a detox from the overconsumption Christmas inevitably brings about for my family. The excess sodium and sugars are what has me excited to regain my body chemistry.

I play squash and practice Jiu-Jitsu and Kung-fu. On the fast, I had to scale back on the squash as intense cardio would wipe me out. To compensate, I would go jogging at night 3x/week for about 5 km. My Sifu was having a riot over my fast and during some private sessions would work me really hard while laughing. Remarkably, if I had an early morning session, I would be wiped out but an evening session I would be fine and could have handled a run and did so a couple of times, but ordinarily the objective was only one type of exercise a day.

The one major scaling back I did was with my anaerobic exercise which I wouldn't do a second time. I would maintain the type of cardio I did (and actually won't be changing up for these two weeks) but will keep a 3x/week low rep high weight anaerobic workout. I lost too much of my muscle mass after the second month and although I gained it back quickly enough I had to gain it back.

Before the fast I had creeped up around 195 and started to look like Russel Crowe in Robin Hood. Muscular with a layer of bulk I wanted to get rid of. By the end I had oscillated between 143 and 147 depending on the amount of water I had taken in the night before. I drank only distilled water from a local reverse osmosis distillery. It's what my family drink and what I have in my lab, so it is what I drank. I also took vitamin supplements, a multivitamin fortified with Iron and extra Vit B, C and D supplements. Otherwise it was just water with the odd bit of lime or lemon juice on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for some flavouring.

I did this as an experiment rather than a weight loss regimen. There was a competing physician who was doing something completely different (and he was double my weight to start). He only ate Twinkies and Nachos. It worked out that he lost 20 lbs over his time frame and it was of course completely based on calorie control. He reduced his caloric intake but ate what he wanted. Of course he had high sodium, fat and cholesterol and little vits and protein but it was again, only for a short time and meant as an experiment with trained professionals watching him. Both of us will be publishing in medical journals, in fact I think he may have already submitted.

As for mental acuity, I had a clarity of mind I hadn't felt since I was a Letterman back in my undergrad days. Most days my focus matched my clarity but there were some days where although my mind was very clear, I had trouble focusing on my work. Not that my mind was blank, but I couldn't sit still and really focus my attention on say an experiment I was running that day, or something I was reading etc. These days would come and go but they certainly were a bother. This happened only after the first 30 days of fasting for me.

Very Interesting, I never thought this would be possible coming from a medical background (I'm a nurse by degree). How did your family feel about it?

When I first explained it to my wife she understood the idea of the cleansing. She also knows that I'm in extreme in everything I do and that I research incessantly. She wasn't fearful for my health so long as I used my noggin and also listened to my colleagues. The pros of being an MD/PhD and working with a group of folks who have at least the MD part made my wife feel much better. She trusted me enough that I wouldn't starve myself to death and certainly I had the body mass to cope. Sure I lost muscle but as a comparison I've now witnessed a colleague who was obese try this for 14 days and he lost 32 lbs. The first 10-15 is going to be water loss and then the release of all the fecal mass in the intestines. The rest is going to be fat at first then the muscle. For him it was straight fat and if he wasn't such a lover of food (a very large man for a cardiologist, easily into the 300+ zone for a guy about 5'9") he said he could have gone on for longer and started introducing complex liquids first then high protein solids and then back to a normal healthy diet. He was simply happy to drop a pant size and then eat his way back up to his typical weight. To each their own. My non-medical friends were the ones who were mostly nervous and because they thought this was just another intense experience I was trying out, they weren't trusting that I was actually doing this safely. For one thing, I'm a bench scientist. I have almost no contact with patients and even I had, I had my team who would have caught any errors if my mental acuity had dipped. Again, it didn't but just to make people feel better, I don't do procedures or perform surgery, so no person was "at risk." I never told my friends when I started and that was part of the experiment. I wanted to note whether I exhibited any detoxing like caffeine withdrawal (I love espresso drinks but only have 1/day, but that 1/day is a jacked up 4 shot latte), I also wanted to note sugar lows and highs and whether I had changes in personality. Was I irritable? If so, more than usual? Say, more than if I had a stressful day (and I have many of those unfortunately). My wife was honest and said I wasn't cranky, I didn't seem any less jovial than usual and in fact, I tended be happier and more patient and easy going. My friends, when I dold them 10 days in (because they started to notice the weight changes) were astonished that I wasn't dragging my feet, exhausted, cranky etc. Let me say this, eating normally, drinking stimulants and staying up all hours of the night during residency had a far more dramatic effect on my disposition than my lack of caloric intake for this time period. Sleep tends to be a more important aspect of my chemistry than food in the short term (and I suppose in the long term too if I were to attempt a no-sleep run more than say 100 hours which was the max I ever had to undergo). Some of you may have heard of the Lemonade Diet. It is a fast with up to 1000 calories a day in the form of maple syrup (B grade). Most tend to drop into the 400-600 calories/day once they really get going. There are documented cases of people successfully maintaining this regimen for half a year or more. Any calorie controlled diet can last provided a base of 600 or so cals are ingested along with a starting adipose proportion suitable to sustain until the body adjusts. Beyond this type of fast, there are swaths of people all over the world (Western too) that enjoy a low caloric intake simply as a life ethic, eating patterns and psychological adjustments were made and eventually some people feel healthier on 600-1000 cals. This isn't for everyone and no "active" person is going to sustain themselves on that level of calories for more than a few weeks before crashing hard. When my brother was training for olympic trials he was taking in 6000 calories/day. Monster amounts of food, but proportioned well and spread out over many smaller meals 24/7. His now wife although not an olympic level athlete was and is a stellar long distance runner and she's eating 2500 calories easily a day and she's 5'4" and maybe 100 lbs? Runs forever though. She eats more than I do, no doubt. I'm an average of 2000 calories and I'm 6' and active. Each of us has a different sustaining level and also a minimum level before our body chemistry starts to change for the worst. My point in writing about my experiences wasn't to claim this is a good thing or a bad thing or something everyone should try but merely to state that the OP likely wasn't lying at all and pulling his water fast isn't only not impossible but happens every day all over the US by pretty unremarkable folks. No superhuman monks required.